8/1/24

Hello Blog Readers,

Wait…what happened!?

The last time that I updated this blog, I was feeling defeated and lost in life on a beach near Eureka, California. I had recently moved back to California only to immediately inherit a caseload and lifestyle that I never wanted, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I felt trapped, lost, and isolated. I wasn’t sure where to go, who to talk to about it, and I couldn’t understand why it was that I had felt such a strong calling to move back to California just a short time ago.

So, I put the matter to prayer. Deep prayer – really deep prayer, because I felt like I was in the belly of the beast. I turned the matter over to God, and offered to Him a daily prayer where I asked, “Lord, why did you bring me back here? I feel lost. I am homeless and confused over this career that I never asked for. I am struggling…I want to do your will, Lord, but I don’t know what it is that you want me to do. Please, carry me and show me the way. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.”

And lo and behold, on Pentecost 2024, exactly forty days after my ‘challenge’ of inheriting my caseload began, God answered that prayer. With our Vicar General and several priests in attendance, the sacrament of confirmation was distributed at Sacred Heart Parish in Red Bluff to the candidates. I watched the joy on the priests’ faces and on the faces of the newly confirmed, and I felt the energy and presence of the Holy Spirit filling that room. All I wanted in that moment was to be standing alongside those priests and also administering the sacrament and offering the sacrifice of the Mass. I felt in that moment what I can only describe as a joyful burning in my heart. “Is this what you want for me, Lord?” I asked, feeling like I already knew the answer. A gentle whisper responded in my heart, “This is what I want for you, child.” I felt warm and comforted. My prayer had been answered, and the moment brought a smile across my face and moved me to tears.

Following the Mass, I immediately reached out to Father Chuck to help me re-open my application to seminary from years ago, and I wound down my work with my law firm. I’m not sure whether the non-Catholic partners at my firm truly understood what was happening, but they are still good, Christian men and were kind enough to let me go even amidst the busy workload at the firm, and as I shared the news with my parents, family, friends, former colleagues, and students, many understood and offered their enthusiastic support. “It’s about time!” my dad joked.

However, there were some hiccups in the process. Even though I worked through the seminary application process as diligently as I could, it soon became clear that I would not be through it all in time to begin seminary during the ’24-’25 academic year. Also, I was still homeless in Red Bluff, essentially living out of a hotel room. So, I returned to my family’s home in Omaha and have been here ever since, spending my days mostly deep in prayer, reading scripture, and helping to raise my parents’ new puppy. Realizing that I needed to do something during this year, I started brainstorming what to do – A year working abroad, perhaps in Italy or Japan? A pilgrimage – perhaps along the Camino or traveling to various Biblical locations? Or maybe, just remain humble and find some work for the year?

Out of sheer curiosity, I turned to the Archdiocese of Omaha website and perused the local jobs. And, as soon as I opened the webpage, there was the job staring me right in the face. It was poetic really, something bringing me right back to where I was before the pandemic happened: a humble Catholic high school called Mercy High School was in search of a part time mathematics teacher. I looked up to heaven. “Really, God??” I asked, and laughed to myself.

I applied for the job and got it…and so, everything now makes sense. When I moved back to California, I was feeling a drive to love and help my Northern California home however I could, in a political, strategizing, advisory, structuring, and spiritual role, but to also somehow push my life away from the litigation niche it had been pigeonholed in for quite some time. Now, I see, what better way to help that place than to be a priest? But first, a year of humility and patience teaching and being back in the classroom here in Omaha. And so, for the ’24-’25 school year I am going to be a math teacher yet again at “Mercy High School,” this time here in Omaha. Then, God willing, in the summer of 2025 I will be heading off to seminary where I will enter a phase of good and honest discernment of the vocation that God has planned for my life.

Yes, God is good, all of the time. All should have faith and learn to trust in Him. I am thankful for the many people and places that I have been called to serve over the years, as well as for the many good souls that I have met throughout my travels. I have a feeling that there will be many further travels and years of service to come! God bless you, everyone.

Cheers,

-Rob